Controversy...
I'm a troublemaker. This isn't news to most of you, but to some of you who still see me as sweet and innocent it might be.I'm a troublemaker with a pet peeve. I hate the word "that". It comes from writing. We're told as writers to not use "that" unless it's absolutely necessary. This means if the sentence works without "that", then get rid of it.
I bring this pet peeve to my critiques, as well as to papers I write for class. Today in Portfolio we were critiquing each other's papers, and I did it. I started crossing out all the unnecessary "thats". I couldn't help it!
Of course, this started the whole discussion about whether or not "that" and it's usages is a stylistic thing, a grammar thing, a faux pas, or simply something you DON'T DO. We even got the English TA involved.
*hanging my head*
I'm a troublemaker.
posted by Erin @ 11:19 PM
1 Comments:
I consider getting rid of extraneous "thats" the best piece of early writing advice I received. That, and making my paragraphs shorter.
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